Beth Catlin

Last updated

Elizabeth "Beth" Catlin (born September 22, 1958 [1] ) is an autistic savant who sends birthday cards to people whom she has met. Using only her memory, Catlin can recall the names, birthdates, and addresses of the people she has met. As of July 2009, Catlin sends birthday cards each year to 3,834 people. [2]

Contents

Personal life

Beth Catlin was born on September 22, 1958, to Don and Barb Catlin. [2] She has a younger sister. [3] She lived with her parents in Mechanicsburg, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania. [2] After her father died around 2009, she continued living with her mother in Mechanicsburg. [3]

In 1995, she worked at a low-paying assembly line job at the Center for Industrial Training, where she can interact with other developmentally disabled people. [4] [5] According to Reader's Digest , Catlin is "mentally and emotionally challenged". [2] Barbara Catlin told The Patriot-News about her daughter in 1995, "We can't reason with her. She just doesn't have that capacity." [4] Although Catlin is a savant, she "has never mastered things like simple household chores, shopping and personal relationship". [4] As of 2009, she finances her birthday card undertaking through her job at S. Wilson Pollock Center for Industrial Training, a vocational training program for disabled people. [1]

Birthday cards

In 1972, Catlin started sending birthday cards to people she has met. She sends cards to her family and friends, as well as neighbors and people at church. She asks people for their name, address, and birthdate, and then catalogs the information in her head. The cards she sends have never been returned due to a wrong address, and the spellings and birthdates have never been in error. [1] She makes the cards every day after dinner for everyone she has met as well as those people's friends and family even if she has not seen them before. [2] In October 1995, Catlin sent birthday cards to roughly 1,400 people. [5] In July 2009, Catlin sent birthday cards each year to 3,834 people. [2] By 2019, that number had grown to around 5,000. [3]

Catlin's cards are decorated with birthday balloons. Written in colored pencil, all her cards have the message, "Happy Birthday". [6] She funds the card-sending with her job at the S. Wilson Pollock Center for Industrial Training. [1] On Catlin's birthday, she receives over 200 birthday cards from the people in her birthday circle. Many of these cards have presents of stamps. [1]

A 13th birthday card sent by Catlin to her cousin in 2021. Beth Birthday Card.jpg
A 13th birthday card sent by Catlin to her cousin in 2021.

In the July 2009 issue of Reader's Digest , Catlin was named "Best Birthday Wisher" in RD's "Best of America" feature. [6] [7] The Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Ronnie Polaneczky wrote in 2019, "Beth's obsession with digits is similar to the kind so unforgettably personified by Dustin Hoffman in the movie Rain Man . While her gift is not an uncommon one among 'number' savants such as herself, I find it immensely moving that it manifests itself in such a thoughtful way." [3]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pleasantville, New York</span> Village in New York, United States

Pleasantville is a village in the town of Mount Pleasant, in Westchester County, New York, United States. It is located 30 miles north of Manhattan. The village population was 7,513 at the 2020 census. Pleasantville is home to the secondary campus of Pace University and to the Jacob Burns Film Center. Most of Pleasantville is served by the Pleasantville Union Free School District, with small parts of northern Pleasantville served by the Chappaqua Central School District. The village is also home to the Bedford Road School, Pleasantville Middle School, and Pleasantville High School. The region of Pleasantville commonly referred to as "The Flats" is mostly served by the Mount Pleasant Central School district.

Marilyn vos Savant is an American magazine columnist who has the highest recorded intelligence quotient (IQ) in the Guinness Book of Records, a competitive category the publication has since retired. Since 1986, she has written "Ask Marilyn", a Parade magazine Sunday column wherein she solves puzzles and answers questions on various subjects, and which popularized the Monty Hall problem in 1990.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hope Lange</span> American actress (1933–2003)

Hope Elise Ross Lange was an American film, stage, and television actress. She was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress and the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of Selena Cross in the 1957 film Peyton Place. In 1969 and 1970, she won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for her role as Carolyn Muir in the sitcom The Ghost & Mrs. Muir.

<i>Readers Digest</i> American general-interest magazine

Reader's Digest is an American general-interest family magazine, published ten times a year. Formerly based in Chappaqua, New York, it is now headquartered in midtown Manhattan. The magazine was founded in 1922 by DeWitt Wallace and his wife Lila Bell Wallace. For many years, Reader's Digest was the best-selling consumer magazine in the United States; it lost the distinction in 2009 to Better Homes and Gardens. According to Media Mark Research (2006), Reader's Digest reached more readers with household incomes of over $100,000 than Fortune, The Wall Street Journal, Business Week, and Inc. combined.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anniversary</span> Date of an event from a previous year and the observance of this milestone

An anniversary is the date on which an event took place or an institution was founded in a previous year, and may also refer to the commemoration or celebration of that event. The word was first used for Catholic feasts to commemorate saints.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rena Sofer</span> American actress (born 1968)

Rena Sherel Sofer is an American actress, known for her appearances in daytime television, episodic guest appearances, and made-for-television movies. In 1995, Sofer received a Daytime Emmy Award for her portrayal of Lois Cerullo in the soap opera General Hospital. From 2013 to 2022, she played the role of Quinn Fuller on the CBS soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful.

Mary Beth Evans is an American television actress, known for her role as Kayla Brady on the NBC daytime soap Days of Our Lives, and her role as Sierra Estaban on the CBS daytime soap As the World Turns.

Bree Williamson Roberts is a Canadian actress.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catherine Hickland</span> American actress

Catherine Hickland is an American film, stage, and television actress, as well as a singer, author and cosmetics-company CEO and hypnotist. She began her career in television in 1978, appearing in guest roles on several series before being cast in a recurring role on Texas from 1980 to 1981. She also had supporting roles in the comedy film The Last Married Couple in America (1980), and the horror films Ghost Town (1988) and Witchery (1988).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michelle Stafford</span> American actress

Michelle Stafford is an American actress, screenwriter and producer. She currently plays Phyllis Summers on the CBS daytime soap opera The Young and the Restless, for which she has won two Daytime Emmy Awards. In 2013, Stafford created and starred in her own comedy web series, The Stafford Project. She also played Nina Reeves on the ABC daytime soap opera General Hospital.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Molly Sims</span> American actress

Molly Sims is an American fashion model and actress. She was featured in campaigns for Jimmy Choo, Escada, Giorgio Armani, Michael Kors, and Chanel, among others. She frequently modeled for the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue in the early 2000s and walked the runway for the annual Victoria's Secret Fashion Show in 2001.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Suze Orman</span> American financial advisor (born 1951)

Susan Lynn "Suze" Orman is an American financial advisor, author, and podcast host. In 1987, she founded the Suze Orman Financial Group. Her work as a financial advisor gained notability with The Suze Orman Show, which ran on CNBC from 2002 to 2015.

<i>Roommates</i> (1995 film) 1995 American film

Roommates is a 1995 American comedy-drama film, starring Peter Falk, D. B. Sweeney, and Julianne Moore, directed by Peter Yates. The original music score was composed by Elmer Bernstein. The film was marketed with the tagline, "Some people talk. Some people listen. When you're 107 and going strong, you do whatever you want."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Monty Hall problem</span> Probability puzzle

The Monty Hall problem is a brain teaser, in the form of a probability puzzle, loosely based on the American television game show Let's Make a Deal and named after its original host, Monty Hall. The problem was originally posed in a letter by Steve Selvin to the American Statistician in 1975. It became famous as a question from reader Craig F. Whitaker's letter quoted in Marilyn vos Savant's "Ask Marilyn" column in Parade magazine in 1990:

Suppose you're on a game show, and you're given the choice of three doors: Behind one door is a car; behind the others, goats. You pick a door, say No. 1, and the host, who knows what's behind the doors, opens another door, say No. 3, which has a goat. He then says to you, "Do you want to pick door No. 2?" Is it to your advantage to switch your choice?

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nicola Stephenson</span> English actress

Nicola Stephenson is an English actress. She played the roles of Margaret Clemence in Brookside, Julie Fitzjohn in Holby City, Sarah Williams in The Chase, Allie Westbrook in Waterloo Road, and Tess Harris in Emmerdale.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Birthday card</span> Card given to someone to celebrate their birthday

A birthday card is a greeting card given or sent to a person to celebrate their birthday. Similar to a birthday cake, birthday card traditions vary by culture but the origin of birthday cards is unclear. The advent of computing and introduction of the internet and social media has led to the use of electronic birthday cards or even Facebook posts to send birthday messages.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beth Ditto</span> American singer

Mary Beth Patterson, known by her stage name Beth Ditto, is an American singer and songwriter most notable for her work with the indie rock band Gossip. Her voice has been compared to Etta James, Janis Joplin and Tina Turner. She disbanded Gossip to pursue a career in fashion, and has since started a solo career. In 2022, she portrayed country singer Gigi Roman on the Fox drama series Monarch.

Abigail Elliott is an American actress, comedian, and impressionist. Elliott is best known for her tenure as a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live from 2008 to 2012. Since her departure from SNL, she has starred on the Bravo comedy Odd Mom Out, NBC sitcom Indebted and the Hulu comedy drama series The Bear. She is the daughter of Chris Elliott and sister of Bridey Elliott.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rachel Brosnahan</span> American actress (born 1990)

Rachel Elizabeth Brosnahan is an American actress. She is best known for playing the title role of an aspiring stand-up comedian in the Amazon Prime Video period comedy series The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (2017–2023), for which she won a Primetime Emmy Award in 2018 and two consecutive Golden Globe Awards in 2018 and 2019. She has also appeared in the political thriller series House of Cards (2013–2015) and the drama series Manhattan (2014–2015).

Julie Dretzin is an American actress and audiobook reader. She made her professional acting debut in the 1993 Broadway production The Sisters Rosensweig. Her roles in the television series Breaking Bad (2010) and The Handmaid's Tale (2018–2019) were well-received. Dretzin has narrated multiple books, including for children, in different accents.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Brenckle, Laura (2009-05-19). "Mechanicsburg woman wishes happy birthday to you ... and you ... and you". The Patriot-News . Archived from the original on 2016-01-27. Retrieved 2016-01-27.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "8 People, Places and Things We Love About America: Best Birthday Wisher". Reader's Digest . July 2009. Archived from the original on 2016-01-27. Retrieved 2016-01-27.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Polaneczky, Ronnie (2019-07-18). "She sends 5,000 birthday cards each year — and not one name, address or birthday is written down anywhere". The Philadelphia Inquirer . Archived from the original on 2020-11-16. Retrieved 2020-11-16.
  4. 1 2 3 Gibson, Elizabeth (1995-10-06). "Savant always keeps birthdays in mind // 1,400 names, dates, addresses spur her to send cards". The Patriot-News . Archived from the original on 2016-01-27. Retrieved 2016-01-27.
  5. 1 2 Gibson, Elizabeth (1995-10-18). "Hampden Twp. woman finds a kindred savant // "Rain Man' trainer visits the area". The Patriot-News . Archived from the original on 2016-01-27. Retrieved 2016-01-27.
  6. 1 2 Scott, Jason (2009-06-23). "Area savant recognized by Reader's Digest". The Sentinel . Archived from the original on 2014-06-05. Retrieved 2016-01-27.
  7. Brenckle, Laura (2009-06-11). "Mechanicsburg woman, famed for birthday greetings, profiled in Reader's Digest". The Patriot-News . Archived from the original on 2016-01-27. Retrieved 2016-01-27.